Meeting of the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R)

February 26, 2016 | Washington, D.C. (USA)

On March 14-15 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will host a meeting of the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R) in Washington, D.C.

GloPID-R is a global research funding consortium with the goal to facilitate an effective research response within 48 hours of a significant outbreak. Until recently, there has been no platform for a network of research funders to identify and prepare the best solutions and channel the necessary funds in health crisis outbreaks. An international research funding collaboration allows national and local organizations to optimize valuable resources, avoid the duplication of efforts and save lost time.

At a time when President Obama and other countries are scrambling to combat the Zika virus, leading experts from Brazil, WHO and PAHO will present on the most current information on affected regions, the research already underway, and the latest and anticipated actions taken by research funding organizations.

Dr. Nicole Lurie, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), will present on the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) and other major US actions in emergency response preparedness. International topics include: G7 Health Minister Summit, WHO Blueprint on R&D, and DAVOS Health Vaccine.

Line Matthiessen, Head of Unit ‘Fighting Infectious Diseases and Global Epidemics’, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission, and GloPID-R Interim Chair.

Marc Ouellette, Scientific Director, Institute of Infection and Immunity, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust.

Bernadette Murgue, Project Manager of the WHO R&D Blueprint.

From Ebola to Zika: GloPID-R in Action

The Ebola virus was a stark demonstration of how unprepared the world was to respond to infectious diseases outbreaks. GloPID-R offers coordinated solutions from identifying key research questions to pulling together experts. GloPID-R contributes to population protection during an epidemic by acting in three modes:

Respond: Funding calls and research capacities and capabilities summaries specific to the current epidemic i.e., Ebola, Zika, MERS-CoV, etc.

GloPID-R Responds to the Zika Outbreak

The Zika virus’s rapid spread and potential associated health consequences triggered GloPID-R members into action. With the Zika virus alert, GloPID-R members tested the Interim Readiness Plan for the first time. The plan is designed to rapidly activate research funders in the event of an outbreak. Very quickly after Brazil declared the Zika epidemic to be a public health emergency in November, the Outbreak Committee recommended that GloPID-R go into Readiness Plan’s “Response Mode.”

GloPID-R members compiled a report, “Zika Virus (ZIKV) Outbreak: Overview of Relevant Research, Projects and Expertise,” identifying research capacity and activities in the field of ZIKV and key research questions to be addressed. One of GloPID-R’s Brazilian Members, Instituto Fiocruz, was instrumental in providing information on Zika’s effects on the population from a regional perspective and the research challenges the virus poses.

As a next step, working groups have been organized by GloPID-R member institutions to cover the specific issues related to etiology, vaccines, diagnostics and data sharing.

About GloPID-R

GloPID-R is the only network of its kind to bring together research funding organizations on a global scale to facilitate an effective research response within 48 hours of a significant outbreak of a new or re-emerging infectious disease with pandemic potential.

Specific objectives of GloPID-R

Facilitate the exchange of information

Address scientific, legal, ethical and financial challenges

Implement a ‘One Health’ approach with close cooperation between human and animal health researchers

The secretariat of GloPID-R initiative is currently funded through the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and is run by Fondation Mérieux (for the AVIESAN research network) together with the University of Oxford (for the ISARIC research network). The interim chair is the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation, with Vice Chairs coming from Brazil, Canada, France and South Africa.